


Adventures in Fishing

by Space_Hawk



Series: Inktober 2020 [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (but that's normal for him), Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluffy, Gen, Sokka is good with kids, and he can match Bumi's chaotic energy, chaotic Bumi, just wholesome family time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26764522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Space_Hawk/pseuds/Space_Hawk
Summary: Sokka is worried that Bumi may feel a bit left out with Kya just starting her waterbending training and baby Tenzin already showing signs of airbending ability. So, he decided to do what his dad did for him when he was about Bumi’s age: teach him to how fish.Day 1 of Inktober: Fish
Series: Inktober 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950592
Comments: 7
Kudos: 46





	Adventures in Fishing

“Uncle Sokka!” a small voice screamed as he felt something crash into him, nearly knocking him over. 

“Bumi! How’re you doing?” Sokka asked, hoisting the child into his arms. “Woah, you’re getting big,” he said, earning some giggles from his nephew in response. “You ready to go?” At this Bumi nodded vigorously, excitement radiating off of him.

“I’ve been up since dawn! Mom said I needed to get my sleep so I wouldn’t be tired, but I was so excited I couldn’t sleep last night! Do you think we’ll see any polar orcas? I want to catch a tiger shark!” Sokka laughed and took the kid’s hand as they started on their journey, Bumi continuing his enthusiastic babbling without letting Sokka get a word in edgewise.

He was taking Bumi fishing for the first time today. With Kya having recently begun her waterbending training and baby Tenzin already showing signs of airbending ability, he wanted to make sure Bumi didn’t feel left out, being the only non-bender of his siblings. So, he decided to do what his dad did for him when he was about Bumi’s age: teach him to fish. 

He was even taking Bumi to the same spot and everything. It was a beautiful, isolated spot on a nearby glacier despite only being a couple miles from the heart of the Southern Water Tribe. Looking back, he remembered being just as excited with Bumi and the memory was still vivid in his mind, even decades later.

_“Ok, Sokka, you ready to try?” Hakoda asked, having just finished explaining how to do it._

_“Yeah!” A 7 year old Sokka replied, bouncing up and down._

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_“Remember, the key is being patient and keeping a steady line. Let the fish come to you.”_

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_Hakoda watched his son try to cast the line, but it got stuck in the ice behind them. A couple tries later, Sokka had managed to get a decent cast off._

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_“Excellent work, Sokka.”_

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_There weren’t many fish biting, but they sat together chatting amicably for the next few hours. Hakoda was a little worried that they would go home empty-handed, but not even fifteen minutes before the impending dusk would have forced them to go home, it finally happened._

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_“Dad, Dad! I felt something! And it’s really big!” Hakoda turned and saw Sokka struggling to keep hold of the rod._

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_The fish must’ve pulled hard on the line because Sokka almost got thrown into the water._

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_“Easy there,” Hakoda said, helping to hold on to the rod as Sokka reeled it in._

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_It was an intense battle and for a while, Hakoda thought they were going to lose it. But at last, the fish tired and they managed to reel it in._

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_“Woah!” Sokka cried, looking down at the massive penguin fish now lying in their canoe. “That was awesome!”_

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_“He gave us quite the fight, but you made an impressive first catch. I certainly never caught anything that big when I was your age.”_

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_“Really?” Sokka asked, eyes wide as he stared up at his dad._

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_“Sure! The first time my dad took me fishing all I caught was a sea slug,” Hakoda laughed, clapping his son on the back. “I’m proud of you, Sokka.”_

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_“Thanks Dad,” Sokka replied, face buried in Hakoda’s side in a fierce hug._

“All right, here we are.” Bumi cheered as Sokka finally lowered his paddles and began unpacking his fishing gear. “Now to key to a great catch is to be patient.” The advice his own dad had given him flooding his ears. “You gotta keep a steady line and let the fish come to you.”

It turned out that Bumi was a natural and within a few minutes had perfectly cast his line into the water. He let himself lean back against the side of the boat and lost himself in conversation with Bumi.

They had a couple close calls throughout the afternoon, but each time the fish managed to just barely escape just before they reeled it in.

“Don’t get down on yourself,” Sokka remarked, watching Bumi’s shoulders drop in disappointment after their most recent fish managed to slip away. “Sometimes the fish don’t want to cooperate.” 

“I guess,” Bumi mumbled.

“Hey, did I ever tell you the story about the first time I took your dad fishing?” After Bumi shook his head, Sokka jumped into the thrilling tale, emphasizing it with wild hand gestures and dramatic impressions.

“And then, the fish jumped out of the water and smacked him in the back of the head!” Sokka finished his story with a laugh and was happy to see Bumi laughing along with him. All woes had been forgotten in the face of a fun story.

“Uncle Sokka!” Bumi said, suddenly serious. “I think I got something! I-ahhhhhh!” Bumi let out a shriek as he got yanked forward out of the canoe, quickly vanishing beneath the icy blue water.

“Bumi!” Sokka cried, frantically searching for any signs of the boy. “Oh man, Katara’s gonna kill me,” he said to no one in particular. “All I had to do was get him back alive. Bumi!”

He resigned to the fact that he’d have to jump into the freezing water to look for the kid when he heard a splash behind him.

And there was Bumi. Floating in the water and clutching a massive, speckled koi fish in his arms.

“Hi Uncle Sokka! Look what I caught,” he said, showing off the still-struggling fish. 

All Sokka could do was stare in disbelief as Bumi swam back over to the boat and dumped the fish inside, completely nonchalant. 

“Spirits Bumi, that was incredible,” he finally said as he helped the soaking wet boy back into the canoe. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“I named him Spot, can I keep him?” Sokka glanced down at giant koi, who stared right back at him.

“Um...You’re gonna have to ask your mom about that.”

“Ok!” He said excitedly, seemingly oblivious to the freezing water that soaked his clothes. “This was the best trip ever, Uncle Sokka!” Bumi then crashed into him to give him a sopping wet hug, but Sokka found that he didn’t mind. Even if his clothes were now almost as wet at Bumi’s.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, kid. Now let’s get you home before your mom gets mad at me.”

“Mom! Mom! Look what I caught!” Bumi ran screaming into the house a short time later, leaving Sokka to carry ‘Spot’ inside. 

“Spirits Bumi, you’re soaking wet,” Katara cried, using her waterbending to dry his clothes. “Sokka, you told me you’d keep him out of the water.”

“Hey! I tried my best, it’s not my fault Spot here decided to drag Bumi into the water.”

“Spot?” Katara asked, eyes widening when she noticed the massive Koi he was carrying. 

“He’s my new pet, can I keep him? Please, Please, Please?” Katara looked from the koi to her son, who was jumping up and down with anticipation.

“Fine,” she sighed, unable to resist the puppy-dog eyes Bumi was giving her. “Why don’t you go pick out a nice spot in the backyard for him and I’ll make him a little pond.”

“Yay!” Bumi screamed, racing off again. “Kya! Come look at my new pet, his name is Spot!” 

“Next time, keep him in the boat,” Katara said with a laugh as she followed Bumi. Once again leaving Sokka to drag the massive koi to the backyard, but all he could do was smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> After years of seeing people participate in Inktober in various forms, I finally decided I'd give it a go, especially since I've had an unusual amount of motivation to write recently. This is the first of (hopefully) 31 short fics that I'll be writing throughout the month of October in response to the official prompts. Most of them probably won't be this long, but I had a lot of ideas for this one and thought it was a cute concept. As always, kudos and comments are greatly appreciated and I hope you enjoyed it :)


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